Luba: The Angel of Bergen-Belsen - Hardcover

Luba Tryszynska-Frederick; Ann Marshall; Michelle Roehm McCann

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1582460981 ISBN 13: 9781582460987

Publisher: Tricycle Press, 2003

Synopsis

Why am I still alive? Why was I spared?

One night in 1944, Luba Tryszynska’s questions were answered when she found fifty-four children abandoned behind the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen. Luba knew if the Nazis caught her she could be executed.

But they are someone’s children. And they are hungry.

Despite the mortal dangers, Luba and the women of her barracks cared for these orphans thro-ugh a winter of disease, starvation, and war.

Here is the true story of an everyday hero and the children who gave her a reason to live.

My name is Luba Tryszynska-Frederick and this is my story. I never thought of myself as a particularly brave person, certainly not a hero. But I found that inside every human being there is a hero waiting to emerge. I never could have done what I did without the help of many heroes. This story is for them, and for the children. --Luba Tryszynska-Frederick

About this title

About the Author

Michelle R. McCann, author of several books about heroes and heroines, was especially inspired by Luba’s incredible story of how one woman’s quiet courage could move others to take risks in desperate times. Michelle lives with her husband and son in Portland, Oregon, where she writes, edits, and teaches about children’s books at Portland State University. This is her seventh book for children.

Fine artist Ann Marshall makes her picturebook debut with these luminous oil and collage illustrations. She lives in the New York area.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Luba lay in her bunk with her eyes closed. Outside, the night was cold and moonless, yet inside, the drafty prison barracks weren’t much warmer. It was Luba’s first night in this strange, new camp. She had no home, no family, and questions plagued her sleep: Why am I still alive? Why was I spared?

Half dreaming, she thought she heard her son Isaac calling her, “Mama! Mama!” But she knew Isaac wasn’t there.

Luba sat up. “Do you hear that?” she whispered to Hermina, who shared her bunk. “Children crying.”

“Only your first night and already you are hearing things?” Hermina rolled her eyes. “You are just dreaming. Go to sleep. The Nazis don’t like crazy people, you know.”

Luba tried to sleep, but the voices returned, “Mama! Mama!”

Who is crying? she wondered. Luba wrapped a thin blanket around her shoulders and went out into the frozen night.
Outside, she could barely see the snow-covered ground, but the cries were clearer. They led her behind the barracks, to an empty field. That’s where she found them: fifty-four children huddled together like lost ducklings.

Some were just babies tucked into pillowcases.

About this edition

• Publisher: Tricycle Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1582460981
• ISBN 13: 9781582460987
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 48